On June 30, 2014 it was announced that the online streaming service Yahoo! Screen had picked up Community for a sixth Season. This ended weeks of speculation about renewal between Sony Pictures Television and another online entity Hulu falling through. The news arrived only a day before the cast contracts were set to expire on July 1st. A total of thirteen episodes were ordered and the show started production in the Fall of 2014. The premiere date was speculated to be sometime after Christmas and was eventually announced to be March 17, 2015 (source).

After its cancellation by NBC on May 19, 2014, Sony aggressively pursued other avenues for a sixth season of Community to appear. On May 28 it was reported by Deadline.com that the online subscription service Hulu was interested in picking up the show. Hulu already had the streaming rights for the complete back catalog of Community episodes. Show creator Dan Harmon posted on his tumblr blog that while he was skeptical about renewal he would be open to returning to the show if it actually happened. In a Crave online interview with actor Danny Pudi ( Abed Nadir) he mentioned that any deal would need to be finalized before the end of June when the cast's contracts were to expire. On June 24, negotiations stalled with some sources stating Hulu lost interest and other sites refuting those claims. The conflicted reports also mentioned another media company also in talks with Sony which was later revealed to be Yahoo. Sony executive Zack Van Amburg mentioned creator Dan Harmon was heavily involved in the final negotiations. On June 30 it was officially announced that Yahoo had picked up Community for a sixth Season to be aired on their online streaming network Yahoo Screen.

“My dad needs daily care and he needs me. The idea of being away 16 hours a day for five months, I couldn't do it. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but I had to choose my dad.”— Yvette Nicole Brown

With Brown's departure two new characters were created to help fill out the returning cast. On November 9 Yahoo TV announced who would play the new roles of "Francesca "Frankie" Dart" and "Elroy Patashnik". Actress Paget Brewster was cast as Dart. She was described as a woman who's brought in as a consultant to help shape up the school. Brewster had previously played the character of Debra Chambers in Season Five of Community. Actor Keith David was cast as Patashnik, a retired scientist who comes to Greendale to reinvent himself. David had also been on a previous Community episode providing the narration for the Season Three episode "Pillows and Blankets".

During his appearance at Paleyfest earlier in the year, Harmon stated that if Community was renewed he would like Donald Glover (Troy Barnes) to come back for Season Six. Glover had joked about reprising the role during an IGN interview in June of that year. In an interview with TV line, Dan Harmon mentioned he told Yahoo that he would like to have Glover return and a spokesperson replied they would work on that. On October 3rd, Donald Glover discussed the possibility of returning in an on air interview with radio talk show host JoJo Wright. Glover admitted to having talked to Dan Harmon about it but teased if he was going to return that he wanted to make sure it felt right to him and was handled correctly in keeping with the spirit of the show (source). Ultimately despite all the online speculation Donald Glover, John Oliver and Chevy Chase did not return.

An interview on IGN posted on August 26, 2014, former Community executive producers and directors Joe and Anthony Russo revealed they were returning to direct the Season Six premiere. On November 17 it was announced by Spoiler guide.com that Jim Rash (Dean Pelton) and his writing partner Nat Faxon were going to direct the second episode featuring the debut of Keith David's character "Elroy Patashnik".

Filming for Season Six ended on March 27, 2015. Various cast and crew posted messages and photos via Twitter on the final day of shooting.

On his twitter account, Dan Harmon confirmed that work on the show would be starting Fall 2014 dismissing reports that Season Six would premiere at that time. Harmon later stated at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con Community panel that the first episode of Season Six would most likely premiere sometime after Christmas. According to a Yahoo Movies article, production of the show is scheduled to start on November 17. Sony executive Zack Van Aumburg stated that budget of the show would be unchanged and that because of the different format on Yahoo! screen, episodes could actually run longer than the 21 minutes broadcast versions which ran on NBC (source). At the 2014 Comic Con panel, Harmon stated he wanted to "make the same show" and not push the boundaries of what they could do simply for the sake of doing that (source). Dan Harmon confirmed on his Instagram account that filming of the show would take place at CBS studio center instead of the Paramount lot on Stage 31. Harmon speculated the shows premiere date to be January 27, 2015 (source) but ultimately it was officially announced on January 13, 2015 that it would air on March 17 (source). A video was released online (see below) to promote the premiere date.

After negotiations were completed, Yahoo posted online a poster featuring the hashtag "#COMMUNITYLIVESON". They later had similar posters promoting the show prominently displayed at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con.

In promotion of Season Six, Yahoo released a series of short videos which gave a brief recap of the previous five seasons. The first video contained a hidden message "#Email Diane". The second video contained a new message which read "seriouslyemaildiane". If viewers actually sent an e-mail to "seriouslyemaildiane@yahoo.com" they recieved the reply below.

Please also include your mailing address, or ask a tricky question only I would know the answer to. (And then confirm your mailing address.)

We will be sure to deliver what is rightfully yours... when the time is right.

Diane

”

The promotion is assumed to be an Alternate Reality Game. On 17th February the email address was again seen in the Community 501 video on the side of the Childish Tycoon, and emailing it this time gave a different response:

“

#TSTaskForce6: Trouble afoot. Stand by for further instruction.

Diane

”

Another e-mail was sent to a few fans who participated in the ARP which included this link: dianesinbox.tumblr.com. The link leads to "Diane"'s password protected tumblr. In the final recap video for Season Five another hidden message, "#TearsInRain", which turned out to be the password for the tumblr. The site featured e-mails and animated gifs which provide teasers for the upcoming season. Below are the gifs featured on the tumblr:

Fans that e-mailed Diane their address later received a promotional tie in to Season Six. It was a customized frisbee similar to the ones featured in the premiere episode "Ladders".

At the 2014 San Diego Comic Con, a special panel was hosted by TV Guide celebrating "Community" called "Greendale Forever". Creator Dan Harmon and co-showrunner Chris McKenna were in attendance joined by cast members Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash along with creative consultant (and Star-Burns portrayer) Dino Stamatopoulos. They answered questions about the show and talked about what to expect in Season Six.

Yahoo did a great deal of promotion throughout the convention center with "Community" Season Six banners and bathroom signs. The bathroom signs had the human being school mascot outside of the men's room and the human being with a bow outside the ladies room.

On February 9, 2015 it was officially announced on Yahoo's tumblr that Honda was signed to be a sponsor for Season Six. Not only would this include pre-roll videos but also product placements. This occurred in the episode "Advanced Safety Features" which featured various Honda products, particularly Honda's CR-V model. In addition, a special webisode called "Abed and the Dean Share a Moment in a Honda" was filmed and posted exclusively in Yahoo screen. It featured the pair parodying the narrating trends in car commercials.